William Perry Shaver

From War over Lemuria: Richard Shaver, Ray Palmer and the Strangest Chapter of 1940s Science Fiction, by Richard Toronto

Chapter 7: Shavertown

Our specific interest falls on the 14th and final progeny of William and Rachel: William Perry Shaver, a Union Civil War soldier in the Pennsylvania Infantry, Company A, 28th Regiment. After the war, he suffered infirmities as a result of his experiences and was unable to support himself by manual labors. He lived with his son or other friends and family, getting by as best he could for the rest of his life. In 1868, three years after his return from the war, he married Rhoda Margaret Anderson.

By 1870, William and Rhoda were living with William’s uncle John Philip Shaver, 82, a retired farmer, in Kingston Township. It was not unusual for several Shavers to live under one roof -a tradition going back generations, and continuing well into the 20th century. William was working as a sawyer at Ryman’s lumber mill in Wilkes-Barre, as an operator of the huge spinning blade. Also living in the Shaver household was William and Rhoda’s 1-year-old son William Henry, and 10-year-old Clara Shaver, a niece.

Next door lived Ziba Bennett Rice, and his wife Elizabeth. Young Ziba was William’s best friend and worked in the same lumber mill. William and Rhoda’s second son, born in 1875, was named after William’s best friend. Thus Ziba Rice Shaver came to be.

Lumberman Ziba B. Rice was a Freemason and attended meetings at George M. Dallas Lodge No. 531. He wore the Masonic apron all the way to his initiation as Grand Master. This was the same lodge where Asa, Ira, Elmer, Lewis, and Joseph Shaver also became Grand Masters. [2]

After the birth of Ziba Rice Shaver, tragedy struck, and life changed drastically within the Shaver household.

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Danville Hospital for the Insane

“Just soaking your head in a bowl of cold water helps.” -Richard Shaver (talking about brain fever)

Exactly where the illness that swallowed up Rhoda Shaver came from is unknown, but it happened some time after the birth of her second son. In the parlance of the day, Rhoda went mad. Her husband committed her to Danville Hospital for the Insane, 70 miles from Dallas Township, where she spent the rest of her life as a mental patient. Danville asylum was a sprawling 250-acre Victorian estate on the banks of the Susquehanna River. It was on the cutting edge of 19th century Pennsylvania mental health institutions.

Times being what they were, mental health issues were viewed differently than they are now, especially when it came to women. Women were declared insane for reasons considered laughable today, not the least of which was “insanity due to religious belief”. That is not to say that every woman committed during the 19th century was of sound mind. The fact that Rhoda Shaver’s insanity appeared after Ziba’s birth may have resulted from what is now called post-partum depression. It has been known to trigger severe depression, or worse, in some women.

Mania, melancholia, monomania, paresis, dementia, dipsomania, and epilepsy were standard categories of insanity in 1880. But in the case of women, physical issues were also given, such as childbirth, heredity, over-exertion, epileptic fits, domestic troubles, and the frequently used “unknown reasons”. [3]

Whatever the diagnosis, Rhoda remained in Danville until her death. This unfortunate turn changed everything. William placed baby Ziba Rice in the care of the widow Catherine Starner, a local German-American. She had the misfortune of marrying a Bavarian man who died before he could raise his five daughters. The widow Starner, always in need of extra income, took in little Ziba as a boarder at the tender age of 3.

Meanwhile, Ziba’s father moved in with his eldest sister, Mary Shaver Frantz, 63. There were other Shavers living nearby. Ira, Phoebe, and Cora Shaver lived in the same neighborhood. Ziba’s older brother William Henry, vanished from the public record, but resurfaced years later as a married lumberman, in the Shaver tradition.

William Perry Shaver eventually moved to Wilkes-Barre, after the death of his sister Mary. He was living with brother-in-law Bentley Frantz in 1910, and died in 1915.